I didn’t attend BlogHer, the women’s blogger conference held in San Francisco, but I did attend the BlogHer People’s Party!

I wanted to attend Blogher ’08, but a couple of things held me back from registering. First, I’ve only been blogging a short time, since May on this WordPress site. I didn’t feel qualified to attend with only 2 months of serious blogging under my belt. Also, I was laid off from my part time job as a food server at Julia’s Kitchen. With less income coming in, it didn’t seem like a good time to spend money on a conference. The thing was, I was dying to go and meet some of the other women bloggers. I had met some through Twitter.com and some I had stumbled upon their blogs randomly, and they were amazing women – full of humor, caring, creativity, and depth. They had inspired me to begin blogging in a more professional way.

I was so sad thinking that the women who I had come to think of as friends were going to be in San Francisco, right in my own backyard practically (I live about an hour from SF), and I wasn’t going to get to meet them. Then an amazing thing happened! (Shhh…I think I used “The Secret“!) I heard about The People’s Party from Megan (@velveteenmind, http://velveteenmind.com/)! I read it on her blog and I immediately wrote to her and asked her if I could come, she said, “YES!” Then I wrote her back and asked if I could bring Angela, and she said, “YES! But we may run out of drink tickets so be prepared with cash just in case.” No problem!

Angela and I drove into San Francisco together, parked and found the Westin St. Francis just fine. Angela is one of my best friends and our joke of the night was that she was my “entourage”. Finding the party was another thing, we wandered through the corridors for a bit, even scored a schwag bag from a medical convention! As we carried the bags away on our quest to find The People’s Party the doctors we passed gave us strange looks, obviously thinking, “Yeah right, sureee you’re doctors!” Okay, they were right, but still.

Finally we heard women’s voices and I said, “That HAS to be it!”. We followed the voices and found it, the BlogHer People’s Party! woo! We were given two drink tickets apiece as we entered and pretty much headed straight for the bar and some white wine. Next we picked up our schwag bags, which were full of fun stuff! Even a hardback book that I was planning to buy! (shhh…i must have used “The Secret” again!)

The next order of business was finding my friends. It was harder than I thought it would be! It was a dimmly lit room and I had to walk by casually and stare at people’s name tags, without tripping and spilling my wine, to see if i knew them or not! The person I wanted to find the most was Tina Cruz (@sendchocolate, http://casadecruz.blogspot.com/). I found Megan and said hello and we took a pic, and I asked her if she’d seen Tina, she said no. I chatted with a few other bloggers and we exchanged business cards. Next, out in the hall I saw Erin! (@QueenofSpain, http://queenofspainblog.com/) Erin has done so much live blogging (which she is a natural and amazing at) that I knew her instantly! She said, “It’s lauralovesart!” and I said, “It’s Queen of Spain!” and we hugged. She was with a guy from photrade.com and we took a couple of pics together to commemorate. So fun to see her in person! I could totally drink some wine with that girl! I asked Erin if she had seen Tina and she said no. Angela and I headed back inside and mingled.

Next I saw Laura Fitten! (@pistacio, http://pistachioconsulting.com/) I didn’t even expect to see her because she had told me she would probably not make it and so we had talked about meeting later in the week at a Tweetup. It was really fun to see her in person, and it felt like a bonus since I wasn’t expecting her!

We came back to the hall and Erin said, “Tina’s down there by the bathroom!”, so I hurried down and found Tina (@sendchocolate), Leah (@califmom, http://www.califmom.com/) and Lucretia (@geekmommy, http://www.geekmommy.net/) all sitting in a circle on the floor near the bathroom of all things! I pounced on them! Then I joined the circle to catch up, then someone said that The Bloggess was in the bathroom so we went to investigate…

I knew Jenny, the Bloggess, was there at the party and I loveee her blog! (@theBloggess, http://thebloggess.com/) She has an awesome sense of humor! I reallyyy wanted to get a picture with her. She was there, and then she disappeared before I could talk to her. Finally she was back and I went to talk to her and she was sooo cute and funny! Later in the night she was holding court in the bathroom of all places, drinking wine and sitting on the counter! Had a blast hanging with her, I just love her! I could definitely drink some wine with her too!

Mrs. Flinger licked me. With a sticker, and for real. Leslie has the cutest twitter personality and is even more fun in person! (@mrsflinger, http://mrs.flinger.us/) I love love love her! We screamed “Squeee!” when we saw each other! It was amazing to meet her in person!

I also got to meet Sweetney! Tracey was so kool! (@sweetney, http://www.sweetney.com). I was just adoring all these women!

Angela and I went back to the main room for her to get another glass of wine, I sat my glass up on the counter and the bartender filled it up, I was trying to slow down, didn’t happen. Out of nowhere two engineers from Yahoo appeared and one started dancing with me. They were nice, but wouldn’t give me a straight answer as to why two guys from Yahoo were at a women’s blogging partay!? They wanted to take us dancing, but I was there to see my friends so we said goodbye.

Next the party was winding down and we ended up in the bar at the Westin with Leah and Tina. They were hungry and Angela and I needed to sober up before driving so we went to Denny’s nearby. Had a great time but the service was slow as molasses. Felt like we were there for three hours!

Angela drove us to her apartment in Albany, then I drove myself home. It’s been a long time since I got home after sunrise!

I had a blast at the BlogHer People’s Party and I am so grateful to Megan for inviting me. It was truly a sureal experience meeting women I felt I knew so well from seeing their pictures and reading their words on their blogs and twitter. Now I really know them in person and I feel like I have a bunch of new BFF’s, Best Friends Forever! Fun, fun time!

BlogHer ’09 here I come! woo! (definitely using “The Secret”!)

I met many more women than I could mention here, and I have a lot more fun and amazing pics from the party than I could post here, maybe of YOU! please check my flickr.com photo stream at: http://flickr.com/photos/lauralovesart/

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Mott’s Cinnamon Applesauce is also convenient to eat as a snack since it comes in a snack pack with 6 individual cups. Each cup equals one fruit serving and gives you 20% of your recommended vitamin C for the day. It’s also fat, cholesterol and sodium free!

My mom and dad even enjoy them as snacks , as does my daughter19. It’s really perfect for my dad who can only eat soft things. Mott’s states that they hand pick their apples and make the applesauce from their special Mott’s family recipe. That must be why it tastes so good.

Have I told you I am passionate about exfoliating? Hmmm? Well, it’s true, I am! And St. Ives Swiss Formula Apricot Scrub totally fits the bill. I love the stuff! I love the smell! To me, it’s kind of an apricot-grapefruit fragrance, very invigorating!

St. Ives Apricot Scrub is made with pure swiss glacial water, swiss botanicals, and 100% natural exfoliants. What could be better than that? I keep it in the shower and use it everyday! After cleansing my skin with my cleanser I squeeze out some of the scrub and massage my face, then rinse it away in the shower. Nothing could be easier. Truly. My skin feels soft and clean and smooth and ready for the day.

St. Ives Apricot Scrub is also dermatologist tested, oil free, and hypo-allergenic and I am also very pleased to tell you that the product was NOT tested on animals. The great thing about St. Ives Apricot Scrub is, it’s cheap! You can usually find it in your local grocery or drug store.

St. Ives Apricot Scrub gently exfoliates and removes all those crusty dead skin cells that make our skin rough and clog up our pores. It’s great to use it on other parts of my body as well – like arms, legs, and feet. The dead skin cells wash down the drain, and you are left with glowing, soft skin. Awww! Just the way we like it!

Allure Magazine even gave St. Ives Apricot Scrub the Readers Choice Award! Well I’m sold, and I bet you will be too when YOU try it!

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Just to let you know…I started blogging on BlogHer.com. I’m a bit confused on where I want to blog. Bear with me. Or would that be bare with me…yes…that would be it…not the animal…lol…

Okay-to start off with their was no dinner-but there were appetisers. Last night I went to the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook. It was held at Ettiquette Lounge in San Francisco. It was such a fun event! To start with I didn’t know if I was geeky enough to go. I mean I blog…I’m starting a website (The Smart Moms Network) but…I’m not the developer. I’ve taken beginning programming and networking but that was as far as I got. I realized it wasn’t my thing. I asked Retro Audrey, one of the event organizers if I would fit in and she said yes, come. I knew a lot of these women were hardcore programmers so I wasn’t sure, but I thought it would be a really interesting event and possibly a good networking opportunity.

I brought along Holly, who is even less geeky than I, but very fun to hang with. We met at the parking lot and walked over. I fell out of the parking lot area and skinned my knee. I had blood dripping down, but somehow my supersonic L’eggs pantyhose escaped without a tear, run or hole!?!

At Ettiquette we were greeted with a red carpet entrance! Upon entering we were given cool name badges and two drink tickets. I was rather impressed that the drink tickets were for anything we wanted, not just cheap beer or wine! Facebook rocks! I had a raspberry mojito and a pandora’s box. Both were excellent! The bartenders at Ettiquette rock, too!

All the women were amazing and accomplished. The sassy and scandalous Cyan Banister(http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/29/1938media-interview-with-zivity-cofounder-cyan-banister-guest-appearance-by-scoble-at-end/), co-founder and editor-in-chief at Zivity started us off with her introduction. I had to wonder why Facebook hasn’t hired Alina Libova, a UC Berkeley college student and the founder and developer of the Easter Eggs application? I snagged her email address in case I am in need of her skills someday for one of my websites! There were plenty of women headhunters from Facebook who seemed to be looking to hire. I would LOVE to work for Facebook, but Palo Alto is a bit too far of a drive for me.

The panel spoke about their accomplishments and the challenges and rewards of being a woman in a male dominated field. Listening to Ruchi gave us a taste of what it must have been like to be part of the beginning with Facebook. The women also spoke of the importance of user feedback and how immediate it can be on the internet. User feedback kept Annie Chang busy changing her apps to meet the users wants when she was heavily involved with LOLapps.

Right now I can only imagine how exciting it is to be on the ground floor as a website launches, and to get that user feedback and see your site grow. Soon I won’t have to imagine though, it will be my turn to be part of that as The Smart Moms Network launches, and I can’t wait!

After the panel talks and discussion we broke up for networking. It was a little difficult networking because no one seemed prepared for it. No one had business cards handy. The women speakers in the panel all kept saying that their business cards were in their backpacks in the back. (Apparently hardcore geek girls carry backpacks instead of purses.) Back to the bar for my second drink. Yes, we tipped the bartenders well! There was a spot for Geeky pictures with props, so Holly and I had some fun with some geek glasses. We also enjoyed the appetisers, the wasabi shrimp being my favs. A DJ was on hand through the night, though more for atmosphere than dancing. I recognized Retro Audrey right away from her Facebook photo, it was fun to say hello to her, she said she recognised me too!

To end the night we were presented with schwag!!! Did we get pocket protectors? No! Our schwag included a soft American Apparel lavender w/purple trim T-shirt with the Facebook Developer Garage – Geek Girl Dinner logo and a nifty wifi detector keychain! Retro Audrey was handing them out. After everyone had been through the line there were a few left over and she offered me an extra t-shirt for my daughter! She was a doll!

I can’t wait for their next event! Facebook and the Geek Girls did it high class all the way.

I get up early and check my email:
1. Read all three horoscopes.
2. Read my todays Mission Calendar Inspiration from Oprah.
3. my astrology.com’s Daily Feng Shui Tip.
4. See what Freecycle is giving away.
5. Find new things I like on ThisNext,
6. Read Fashionista -15 new articles,
7. check out the InSyle look of the day,
8. Go Buy Now: Tiered Skirts from WhoWhatWear Daily,
9. see if Shop Bop has anything new and cute,
10. check the Fashion Alert at nymag.com,
11. Look through Bluefly.com,
12. AnnTaylorLoft,
13. OldNavy,
14. Newport-News,
15. Nordstrom,
16. JuicyCouture,
17. Tobi.com, and
18. Spiegel at their latest clothes,
19. check out what I might love in Stuff We Love at ivillage.com.
20. See what is at The BIG Semi-Annual Sale at Bath and Body Works.
21. Drool over diamonds at BlueNile.com.
22. See what desserts CookingFood.com wants me to make tonight.
23. Read through 20 FlyLady emails encouraging me to clean my house.
24. Read Cory Kennedy’s new blog post on uber.com,
25. Read perezhilton.com
26. and TMZ.com to find out what’s new with the stars
27. Read stereogum.com to find out the latest music
28. See what to do, where to go, or what to eat with San Francisco Mgazine’s itlist_sf,
29. About.com: San Francisco,
30. radioalice.com’s Alice Everyday: News and Notes,
31. check my Going.com The Weekly Update,
32. Thrilllist San Francisco.
33. See what Advance Movie Screening!!! Entertainment Weekly wants to send me to.
34. Find out that Netflix.com received my last DVD.
35. Buy something from thegreatergood.com to save the children. The Greater Good Network, shop where it matters!
36. Look at the When We Left Earth Series at the Discovery Store Channel at discovery.com.
37. Find out What to Watch from EW.com,
38. See what’s going to be on This Week on the Sundance Channel.
39. Find out what’s happening on Oprah’s show tomorrow with my OprahAlert.
40. Send a message to my legislators at MomsRising.org.
41. Find out 10 Easy Ways to Sleep Better from LifetimeTelevision.com,
42. find out what my favorite Ebay seller is selling.
43. Update at twitter and read all the twitters including blogs and links and then reply to them all plus welcome new twitterfriends,
44. update at friendfeed and see what Robert Scoble has to say,
45. check facebook and see how my Fantasy Stock Exchange is doing and what my friends have been doing on the newsfeed and check my notifications to see who sent me a virtual bloody mary,
46. check MySpace to see if any friends have tagged me in any embarassing pics or what their Status and Mood is and check the Friend Updates to find out who has changed thier profile song to “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon and check the Bulletin Space to read my friends survey on thier favorite sex positions and see what band is promoting a concert far away from me in Europe, and read The Dresden Dolls blog to find out that they now have a special edition of “No, Virginia” to download with bonus tracks.
47. Check my karma at Plurk.com and say hi and comment with all my plurky friends there.
48. Write a blog on WordPress.com
49. post it on mashable.com
50. and del.icio.us
51. and Kirtsy,
52. and Mahalo,
53. and Friendfeed
54. and digg.com
55. Moderate my blog comments.
56. read Jeremy’s Shoemoney – Skills To Pay The Bills,
57. and John Chow dot Com,
58. and Laughing Squid
59. and The Latest from TechCrunch
60. and WebProNews to keep up on the latest tech news.
61. Watch GaryVee on Wine Library TV to find out what wine to buy for dinner,
62. watch Jake Marsh on Viddler.com to see what he’s been up to,
63. Shop on Etsy.com
64. If it’s Sunday I must watch Val’s Art Diary on YouTube.com.
65. Then there are the forwarded jokes from friends,
66. the graphics from Oasis to look through
67. Check out what Bob Lefsetz had to say about the music scene.
68. See what’s new at iTunes.
69. Check my rss feed at Pageflakes and read all new articles.
70. and if I’m lucky maybe even a personal email or two.
71. I think I’ll just delete the BUSINESS PROPOSAL, Online Degree Program, Mastercard or Visa Approved, 3 Days and 3 Nights Confirmation, the Cheapest pain medication online and Please Your Woman Tonight emails, after all, it’s bedtime.

Yesterday, my friend Angela invited me to come visit her. She lives in Albany, next to Berkeley. I drove over and we decided to go out to lunch to this place that I can’t remember the name of, but she said it was across the street from Chez Panisse. So, I said, “What about just going to Chez Panisse?”. Angela said, “Well, I checked on that online and it said that you need to make reservations about a month in advance”. Angela is getting a degree at UC Berkeley (that I don’t remember the name of but it has something to do with food and wine). Angela also just finished reading “Alice Waters and Chez Panisse” by Thomas McNamee. (I can’t figure out how to underline the title here in WordPress – forgive me, I do know better). In any case I knew Angela would love to eat there between her major and just finishing the book, so we drove downtown Berkeley and found a parking spot and put 10 quarters in the meter. Berkeley is so cool and quirky. There were people picnicking in the grass in the meridian of the street. Lots of them! With cars driving by on both sides of them, like they were in a park! Most of them were eating pizza from a nearby place. I was dying for Alexandra’s digital camera! I had asked Angela to bring hers, but the battery was dead, so no luck there either.

We decided to try Chez Panisse before going over to the other restaurant, and they took us right in! We went upstairs to the cafe, which I am told is a bit less formal and pricey than the restaurant.

We were seating in a very tight spot, very close to another table, but we didn’t mind, everyone was very friendly. They first ask if you would care for still or sparkling water and they bring it the table in a pretty etched glass decanter. It says Chez Panisse on one side, and Still on the other. There was a wonderful flavorful brown bread that was served with some very yellow butter. Angela said that the guy that started Acme Bakery nearby had worked at Chez Panisse and Alice Waters had helped him get started, so we imagined that the bread was probably from Acme Bakery. That was where our bread from Julia’s Kitchen had been from, too. The busser girl told us the butter was from grass fed cows and that it was yellower because it had more carotene. Wow. I guess I didn’t even know what color butter was supposed to be. I’ve grown up on the pale butter made from grain fed cows. It’s kind of a shame.

We ordered a bottle of rose wine that was rather inexpensive and Angela said she had read it was one of Alice Waters’ favorites. It was perfect! Our server was apparently in training because another server came over to open our wine while instructing her. Later I saw her trying to open the wine for another table. I wanted to help. (I could have taught her much better…)

We shared an appetiser. (I’m on a budget) It was a salad with fried goat cheese. Angela once again said that she had read that it was one of the classic dishes at the restaurant. Next we share an entree. There was a boneless chicken that they said was pressed as it was cooked to make it crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It was wonderful! As were the herbed peas. I’ve never had better peas. Honestly. And then there were some homemade potato chips as well. So good! Lastly, dessert. I had a peach and raspberry tart with vanilla bean ice cream and Angela had the fresh fruit, queen anne cherries and a plumcot. We were both in heaven! Truly a meal to remember!

In between all of this, I forgot to mention that since I knew I was going to be near Chez Panisse I thought I would bring along a resume and drop it off, since I am on the market at the moment. After we were seated for a few minutes I handed our server my resume and asked her if she could please give it to her manager. A few minutes later she brought it back to me and said it would probably be better to wait until I was leaving and give it to a manager myself, that way they might have time to sit down with and talk with me. Then, once again, a few minutes later a woman comes up to our table and says, “Hi, I’m Renee, did you want me to look over your resume?” I gave it to her of course and we continued our lunch. When we finished I checked to see if she was available, but the said she was in a meeting and had my number and would call me. Honestly, that is probably for the best, I don’t know what kind of interview I would have given after drinking half a bottle of wine!

Angela and I stopped and she got a couple of cheeses and some bread and salami and a lovely cold bottle of prosecco and we went back to her place, where her son Elijah and boyfriend Jesse were, and watched a French foreign film I had rented from Netflix, called Avenue Montaigne. Not Amelie, but very cute. We had the best French themed day!

Is gum dangerous? I never thought so, until today. Driving back to work after my lunch break I decided to freshen my breath WHILE whitening my teeth with some Orbit White spearmint gum. I grabbed the pack, popped out two pieces and slit my baby finger, my little finger, my pinky! It actually produced a drop of blood as you can see in the picture above (taken with my cell phone).

What a week! And it’s only Wednesday! Yesterday an earthquake and now today a chemical factory explodes incredibly close to my house!

Last night I was in the middle running my meeting for RW Investments, a women’s investment group, and we felt a small earthquake that went on for two or three seconds. The earthquake happened at 7:29 PM with a magitude of 3.9 and was centered near Vallejo, California. We all just sat there rather calmly and said, “Hey, I think that was an earthquake!?” Katherine Klein, who is adorably 7 months pregnant, jumps up and runs to a doorway! We all look at her, and she looks at us. And we start laughing and say, “Is this your first earthquake?” and she says, “yesss!”. She is a little afraid and rather shaken up, but we assure her that if it was going to be a bad earthquake that it would go on for a longer time and that you would have time to run out of the building. She said that she felt the baby moving and then realized that she was moving too! Leo Martinez, our guest speaker for the night, was standing and didn’t notice it at all, only the people sitting did.

It struck me rather funny how we all reacted so calmly to it except Katherine. We really don’t have earthquakes often, but I have felt them every few years. The worst one that I’ve felt was the time the bridge collapsed in San Francisco. That one went on long and hard enough that I grabbed my baby son out of his crib and ran out to the street. That was a bit scary, but I had absolutely no damage. Whenever an earthquake is reported on the news my mom’s phone lights up with calls from her relatives in Tennesee. They are all afraid we’ve fallen into the ocean. Just kind of funny how we take it in stride, while the rest of the country is frightened by the thought of it.

So now, today, I am cooking dinner, and my neighbor, Cathy Reisinger, calls me and asks if she can come by and drop something off to me. I say sure, and I hear her yell outside, so I walk out and she yells, “Laura! Come here! You have to see this!”. I walk out and straight down at the end of our street, though you can tell it’s in the distance, is extremely black smoke rising up in a colomn. Then we start hearing noises! “Bang…bang bang! Bang!”. This continues on intermittently. We are both trying to think what is located in that direction and what is blowing up making those bang sounds? We consider the gas station and a Burger King. We both go back inside our homes and she calls me a few minutes later and tells me to turn on the news. KCRA 3 news is reporting that the Ashland Chemical Plant is in the middle of a 3-alarm fire. The fire started in a tanker trailer, which may have been what we heard exploding. I heard a woman on the news saying that the fire smelled like tires. They evacuated nearby residents and sent them to a shelter. We were pretty nearby I’ll tell you, but luckily the wind wasn’t blowing in our direction. I’m sure it’s less than 5 minutes drive away from me. They told the rest of the local residents to stay inside. I have been staying inside! They are saying that the chemicals are “relatively” non-toxic. “Relatively” doesn’t make me feel very good to be honest with you. Reports say that the fire was put out at 8:30 PM, but it’s about 9:15 PM now and I still hear helicopters flying around constantly.

So, it’s been a rather eventful week, and it’s only Wednesday! Here’s to the rest of the week going out like a lamb.

UPDATE: Just now at 9:30 PM I received an automated phone call from the Fairfield Police and Fire Departments saying that the fire has been contained, air quality is good, and we all can resume our normal activities.

Laura arrived for the night in the chic new Honda Civic mini limosine! As she exited the car the paparazzi bulbs flashed and fans cheered! Entertainment Tonight hosts begged for an interview as she strutted down the RED (ish) carpet (looked a bit like a kitchen rug)! Laura signed a few autographs for her fans and gave a quick interview to ET, saying, “I’m so excited to be here, it’s going to be a fabulous night! Has anyone seen Jane Porricelli yet?” and then was wisked inside by her entourage to watch the show. During the show she enjoyed some expensive French bubbly champagne (or was it Ocean Spray White Cran Peach?) as she sat and chatted with the other celebrities (or maybe she was home alone).

Laura was thrilled to see little tiny Ellen Page win for best actress for her perfomance in Juno and was shocked to see Iron Man win best summer movie? “What were they thinking? I’ve never even heard of Iron Man? Naturally it should have been Sex in the City!” she exclaimed. Laura thought SJP and Jennifer Hudson were smashing as they announced Will Smith as the Best Actor for I Am Legend. Their outfits, their shoes! Oh YES! And Sarah Jessica Parker and Ellen Page must be about the same height, little tiny!!!

For best comedic performance Anne Hathaway announced the winner, “YEEEAH! JOHNNY DEPP!”, as he walked out from behind the stage casually chewing gum, the crowd was almost in shock! Laura wondered if he had been backstage and people didn’t realize he was in the theater? He wore jeans with a striped cap tucked in the back pocket and a brown leather belt buckled on the side, a black short sleeved button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, Charlie Chaplin type hair, looking very clean cut and handsome and hot! He looked so young, just like he did back in his 21 Jump Street days. The crowd erupted! Laura Iriarte and Lindsey Lohan were the only two celebrities to give him a standing ovation! Diablo Cody seemed ready to swoon as she touched her heart! Chris Brown and Rhianna oddly seemed unimpressed? Jonah Hill from Superbad, another nominee, gave him a joking two thumbs down. Johnny won once again in the Best Villian category for his performance in Sweeney Todd. Tila Tequila was thrilled! Johnny said, “wow, this is nutty, two times in one night!” and proceeded to thank one and all. He ended by pointing at Laura and saying, “Hey Laura, I must say you look amazing darling!” (or maybe he SHOULD have dammit!).

Tom Cruise, in a very preppy look, black slacks, white button down shirt with a black v-neck sweater over it and very shiny black shoes, presented the MTV Generation Award, an award presented to someone who has given us significant cinematic achievement. The award this year was presented to Adam Sandler! Tom Cruise calls him The Sandman and reminds us of all the films Adam has been in, then a montage of clips follows, including some Saturday Night Live clips. Finally as Adam is announced he slowly rises up through the floor of the stage and sings, “Nobody Does It Better”, his own version, as women in gold bikinis pose (a tribute to James Bond’s Goldfinger). After Adam acknowledges that his song was the most arrogant thing he’s ever done, he then gives a heartfelt acceptance speech.

Best Breakthrough Performance went to Zach Efron for Hairspray. Best Kiss went to Brianna Evigan and Robert Hoffman from Step Up to the Streets. Laura didn’t see the movie, but after their steamy re-creation on stage Laura could see why they won! The evening concluded with Transformers winning best picture. Laura saw Transformers and agreed it was a very good movie, much better than expected. But having seen both, Laura would have picked Juno. She thought it was much more original.

The standout performances throughout the night were Coldplay, The Pussycat Dolls, and Wayne’s World. Coldplay and their new song were amazing, but there were just too many rose petals or big confetti thingys fluttering around and getting on the lead singer and even on Laura in the audience. The Pussycat Dolls did a sexy, energetic, choreographed performance, and host Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey recreated their Waynes World skit! Party On Dudes! Excellent!

Laura’s posse snuck(?) her out of the auditorium through a secret back door, dodging the paparazzi, then the Honda Civic Mini-Limo took her off into a night of celebrity parties (or maybe she went to bed). What a life!

Hire me, please. Yes, today I was let go, fired, downsized. I was advised, “I’m sorry, but I’ve been told from the new president of
Copia, Garry McGuire Jr., to let all the part-time employees go.” I am a part-time employee, so that meant me. This actually happened when I called in to find out what time I worked tonight. That may seem last minute, but actually I had called yesterday, as well. And the schedule which starts on Sunday is rarely posted until Saturday afternoon.

So, instead of working tonight and bringing home close to $200, here I sit, blogging.

I don’t blame my manager Joel, he’s a sweet guy, and he’s just following orders, and truly seems to feel bad about it all. He’s willing to give me a letter of recommendation and has given me a few leads of places that are hiring. That’s all I can ask for at the moment.

It’s unfair though, because of all the food servers at Julia’s Kitchen, I actually have the most seniority. Even though I work part-time, I have been there the longest, since October of 2006. I have stayed when everyone else left, through five – count them – managers. Steve, Jane, Noel, Jane again, and Joel. Also, Rose, Jazmin and Eric who were acting managers for short periods of time. Also, I have regular customers who love me. There are two couples that come in and ask for me every Friday night. The Curley’s, John and Cathy, and the Poliak’s, Richard and Cathy. I had special plans for them to celebrate their 100th and 200th visit respectively. The sad thing is, I won’t even be able explain and say goodbye to them or any of my friends/co-workers.

Whose idea was brunch? Mine! (And it’s been very successful I must say!) Who always shows up for her shifts? Me! Who has come in many times on short notice to help out? ME!

I filed for unemployment. That was a bit confusing. Apparently both of my part-time jobs, including the one I’m not fired from – with the school district – will pay for the unemployment that I draw. They seemed to want to know more information from the job I still work for than for the one I was fired from. Why?

I have almost $300 in the bank and about $23 in cash. To last until the end of the month.

This sucks!

The plan is: Apply for unemployment. Check. Update resume. Make copies of letters of reference. Start applying at every fine dining restaurant in Napa.

Do I blame the economy? Do I blame the new president of Copia, Garry McGuire Jr.? I really don’t know who to blame. All I know is that as difficult and unexpected as it is, I need to find a new job and fast. Wish me luck!